GraceLife - Live!

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] get you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you for joining our livestream worship service today here grace life we've been looking forward to joining you again this week we've been praying planning and preparing for a great time of worship together we hope if you're able to make comments there through YouTube or Facebook that you'll feel free to do that send us prayer requests if you'd like and I'll be seeing you again at the end of the service [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you for joining our livestream worship service today here grace life we've been looking forward to joining you again this week we've been praying planning and preparing for a great time of worship together we hope if you're able to make comments there through YouTube or Facebook that you'll feel free to do that send us prayer requests if you'd like and I'll be seeing you again at the end of the service [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning and welcome to grace life we're so glad that you joined us for worship today we're gonna have a good time together we hope that you'll dance sing have a good time where you are and worship with us [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] who they now Jesus lives in me for I was dead but I woke up to see the light [Music] [Music] hey man hey that was awesome I hope you had a good time dancing in the living room nobody's watching nobody's judging and it's all good hey Pastor Dave got a special Bible presentation for our kids so if you got kids in the house now's a good time to bring them in and listen to Pastor Dave hey good morning grace life family and especially good morning boys and girls thank you so much for joining us this morning in worship hey last week when we were together we talked about the tongue and we talked about watching our words and thinking before we speak so how did we do with that this past week good news is we have another shot this week to do a good job with watching our words hey today I want to talk to you guys about purpose and to get started this morning I want I want you guys to kind of go through my morning routine with me all right let's say I wake up 6 o'clock and I go into the bathroom and get ready to take a bath and I pour my Mountain Dew in the tub and I sit and take a bath in my Mountain Dew right no that's not what Mountain Dew is for all right then I get ready and I go into the kitchen and I'm ready to eat and so I pour myself a bowl of Legos all right then I sit in my kitchen and eat my Legos right no that's not what the Legos are created for then it's time for me to get ready to go to church and so I just try to decide what to wear for the day and so I figure I'm gonna wear this nice garbage bag here to church this morning then that'd look good all right yeah no that's not what a garbage bag is for and then I get in my car and I get ready to start my car using my comb here no that's not what the comb is for and finally I get to church and I'm trying to open my office unlock that so I use this battery here to unlock the office no that's not at all what a battery is for you know what each one of those items were created with a special purpose the mountain dew so that we could drink the Lego so that you guys can play with it I know a lot of you guys like to play with Legos garbage bags for collecting garbage I had the comb for brushing her hair and the battery for helping to make things run all right they each have a purpose and I was attempting to use them in the wrong way guys and did you know that just like each of these items here has a purpose you also have a purpose God has a special plan for your life and for my life that only you can fulfill all right and I should make you and me feel very special because it because God has created us with a purpose there's no one else in this entire world right they can take your place in it because God has designed it for you all right no one else has your personality your gifts your abilities all right to carry out God's plan for you all right now for an example of that let's take this morning there's only a few of us here today I'm very thankful for the band leading us in worship but there's no way that I could be part of the band right I just don't know how to play any of those instruments that's not what God has called me to do I'm just like upstairs we have some guys and girls who are ladies who are running the sound and video this morning and I'm very thankful for them I have no idea how to do that stuff that's not what God has called me to do or that's not my purpose but I'm very thankful for each of them all right my purpose for today is to get to talk with you guys for just a few moments about purpose all right and so I'm excited about that I wanted to read a couple of verses for us Psalm 139 verse 13 for you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made alright God knows every single detail about you and about your life the verse 16 of that chapter says all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be God knows what's going to happen every single day of your life and he has a great plan for every single day of your life alright and he knew before we were born that today on April 2 26th 2020 that we were going to be live streaming and that we were going to be talking about this very thing alright Jeremiah 29:11 says for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future God does indeed have great plans for our church for your families and for you individually so what exactly are those plans and purposes that he has for us well again each person has different different things that God wants them to do right but some things we all have in common I believe one is he wants all of us listening today to be part of his family and that means to be a Christian and so that's one purpose I believe he has for all of us another is after were Christians he wants us all to be baptized until obey Him in that that's part of his purpose for us this morning and every week God wants us to worship Him that's part of his plan and his purpose for each of us and so in just a couple of minutes we're gonna be singing and worshiping God some more so I encourage you to really join in with all of your hearts and minds on that but also there there are some good works that God wants each of us to do for him and so Fijians chapter 2 verse 10 says for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do alright so what is it that he wants us to do in these days first of all believe he doesn't want us to misuse that the gifts and abilities that he's given to us like I was misusing these items just a few moments ago but instead he wants us to use those for him all right so as we close today I want you to think about these questions first of all what are some things that you are good at what are some things that you're good at maybe your moms and dads can help you to try to figure that out and after you you have some some answers there think about how can you use those things for him in the days ahead for God all right what what is your purpose for today what's God's purpose for you for today I pray that God will show that to you each and every day and so as we as we close just know that I'm praying for you guys and I love y'all thank you amen thank you Pastor Dave you know we call that the children's message or the children's Bible time or the children's sermon but really that's kind of for all of us just a reminder that God has created you on purpose with a purpose and even the fact that you're watching right now on this livestream is on God's purpose and so he's got a plan for you thanks for being here let's continue in worship [Music] you make miss Trimble Jesus jeez silence fear jeez you make the darkness triple G [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the pain of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God father that the shadows cats [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] father see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] gee [Music] well Jesus is worthy of his name and we're thankful today that you've joined us to celebrate who he is and what he's done so I've been standing over there singing with a few other people who there who are in the room today I've watched your names come up on the on the Facebook app as we've been live streaming and I've thank the Lord today for every one of you who are there at home I'm sure most of you watching and tuning in to be a part of our worship time together today you know you've been super faithful you grace lifers in these days in your giving and through honoring the Lord with your tithes and your offerings and some of you I know have had to get used to doing that online for the very first time others of you have mailed in your gifts and you've not been able to be here and actually drop your offering in the offering bucket like we normally do in fact when we make when we come back together we may not be able to do that like we normally do just for safety reasons for a while but thank you for being diligent and faithful maybe for trying some new things you know along the way as as we've worked through these days and and gone through having to do some things very differently we've been looking for opportunities to encourage church members and others in our community who've struggled and and God has been faithful and gracious to help us do that but also we've been very thankful that we've been able to continue our support for our many Southern Baptist missionaries both on the continent of North America and in other parts of the world they're still out there doing ministry and looking for creative ways to share the gospel and and sow the seeds and cultivate those seeds of the gospel of the Lord Jesus and today I want to show you by video a special message from the president of our International Mission Board dr. Paul Chitwood who thanks you for your continued support through your local church like a grace life and encourages you about the work of our international Nerys that that continues and so because you're giving faithfully each week your grace life we're able to send the portion of your gifts own to other mission agencies and other missionaries in different parts of the world including our international mission board and so today as we go through our normal offering time many of you will take the opportunity there at home to get online and to make a gift or to make out your check and prepare to put that in the mail or drop it by the church office this week I know you'll be encouraged in just a moment from hearing from dr. chip Wooden but first let's pray together let's thank the Lord for all that he's done for us in these days and honor him that our Lord Jesus does have a name that is above every name and he's worthy of our praise of our sacrifice our submission and our obedience today you pray with me as I pray Lord we do thank you for the gift of another opportunity to worship and Lord though our gathering is a little bit different we know that you are present and real and active in the midst of our worship time together I thank you for every person who's tuned in here in our community and even in other parts of the world thank you for the privilege we've had this week of seeing you at work of knowing that you are our refuge in our strength and a very present help in times of difficulty thank you Jesus that you're with us through every circumstances our shelter and our Savior thank you for the opportunity that we have to worship you in song today and through the scripture with our prayers the privilege we have of knowing that you are still on the throne you're still drawing men and women all over the world to personal faith in Christ as master and Savior and so lord help us in these days to continue to depend on you and trust you to let your will and your work be accomplished in our lives God as we've already heard today to fulfill your purpose in this generation thank you that our gifts make a difference thank you for reminding us that we are simply managers of everything that you give us in Lord may our time and our talent and our treasures be used to continue to sow seeds of the gospel here and around the world thank you that we can know today that you're in complete control of our lives and I pray Lord that in just a few minutes as we open your word together by your Holy Spirit you would speak into our lives that you would help us become more like our Savior Jesus in his name we pray amen hi I'm Paul Chitwood president there national mission board a lot of the vast amount of information you're hearing about the effect of the coronavirus around the world I want to take the opportunity to share with you that your international mission board personnel are continuing to advance the gospel during these difficult days we're living in unprecedented times many of us have never seen something of this scale in our lifetime and while for us there are many unknowns about this pandemic we rest assured in the Providence of God please know that it's the crisis unfolds we have teams of people working around the clock to monitor the situation and every part of the globe where your missionary served we're exercising wise caution throughout this crisis and we're committed to continue seeking God's wisdom we do not want your 3,700 missionaries or their 2880 children placed an unnecessary harm at the same time we're praying for opportunities for your missionaries to speak the hope of Christ during this climate of despair to people who are waiting to hear the good news the crisis can be disorienting and unnerving but our God remains faithful our hope remains squarely fixed on Christ whether it's world war economic collapse or a health pandemic your I and B has always and will continue to remain committed to the task you've entrusted to us our one sacred effort to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation we covet your prayers both for your missionaries and for the people they're seeking to reach the mexican-american war broke out just as our first two Southern Baptist missionary couples were boarding the ship and heading to China and still they win within a few years our nation was torn asunder by the Civil War but your missionaries stayed on the field through two world wars and the Great Depression your missionaries remained on the field for a hundred and seventy-five years in the midst of crises and tragedies while US presidents have been assassinated and epidemics and pandemics have come and gone Southern Baptists have not been one single day without a witness among the nation's as we deal with the coronavirus here at home don't forget to pray for your missionaries many of whom are also dealing with a virus overseas yet as people fear death the gospel rings true thank you for continuing to support your imb missionaries well thank you dr. Chitwood I'm thankful that we can be a part of God's work around the world through the ministry of Southern Baptists International Mission Board missionaries and I know they would be grateful to know that you're praying for them during these days be turning in your Bibles to the 37th psalm this morning if you brought a Bible have a Bible on your device Psalm 37 I received something across my desk this week entitled things God will never say during a worldwide pandemic and here are some of them I thought this was really good things God will never say during the worldwide pandemic here they are number one this really worries me maybe you've said that you'll never hear God say that I have no idea what to do now I just need a vacation I'm sure some of you said that forgive me I made a mistake maybe you've had to say that this week but God hasn't said that never will say that and then here's here's number five there are others boy I didn't see that coming God wouldn't say that during a worldwide pandemic God never says anything like that now Psalm 37 if you've been tuned in this week I let you know that I would be preaching from this passage this Psalm it's an interesting song written by David in the form of an acrostic a great Hebrew Hebrew poetic thing that David use and and so each each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet that's the one interesting thing about the psalm it's called a a didactic psalm that's just a fancy word for an instructional song a psalm that teaches us or is designed to teach us and I'll tell you what the psalm teaches if you've already read it or if you go back and read the psalm it teaches us basically this evil always loses and God always wins in that a great truth in fact if you look at the opening and closing verses of the some verse one says don't be agitated by evildoers and don't envy those who do wrong for they wither like the grass and they wilt like green plants and then at the other end of the psalm that where it closes in verses 39 and 40 the salvation of the righteous is is from the Lord there he's their refuge in a time of distress the Lord helps and delivers them he will deliver them from the wicked and save them because they they take refuge in him in that a great truth evil always loses and God always wins that's the message of the Bible from beginning to end from Genesis all the way all the way through the book of Revelation even though we see God's people experiencing some ups and some downs and some heartaches and hardships and catastrophes and even some joys and successes all through the Bible evil loses and God wins and and that's the message of the gospel that God in the person of his son Jesus Christ came into this world of sin and death and ugliness and guilt and shame and makes it possible for you and me to overcome that that's the power of the gospel in us and and and what it means for us to follow Christ as our Lord through his death and burial and resurrection Jesus changes that situation for us and takes us out of Martinus and brings us into the light and takes us out of death and brings us into into life but here in this psalm in in three very special verses we are instructed about the sovereignty of God about God's control over our lives in times of difficulty and hardship and so I've entitled the message this morning this God has no accidents God has no accidents and if you stay with me to the end I'll tell you at the end where that title comes from now I understand our livestream on Facebook is having some difficulty today you may have to ship over shift over to YouTube you may even have to tune in a little bit later we're sorry about that we're working on it maybe we'll get that fixed maybe maybe not technology is great when it works and not so great when it does it look with me there in verse 23 all right Psalm 37 and he takes pleasure in his way though he falls he will not be overwhelmed because the Lord holds his hand I have been young and now I am old yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging bread now there's an interesting word there in verse 23 that really sets up everything we're going to talk about and it's that word established or some translations use the word ordered all right that's a very strong word in the original language and it means to to establish something or to order something so that it has a strong foundation you you might use the word determined or securely fixed or controlled if you will we read in Proverbs where the Bible says the Lord directs our steps well this is an even stronger word he doesn't just direct our steps he determines our steps if you will and so what I want to call your attention to this morning in these verses are four of our father's divine determinations that's what I've called it his divine determinations now here they are number one he determines our steps our steps that's what verse 23 said look at it again a man steps are established by the Lord now this includes all of our steps our going out are coming in as the psalmist said in other places are our ups and our downs our good steps and our beds bad steps are our steps that are successful steps and our steps that are failing steps the implication here is that absolutely nothing happens to you as God's child by chance or by fate no circumstance whether good or bad can come into your life or my life apart from God's determined but he has established he has ordered our steps and so anything that happens to you are to me as God's child whether good or bad it must pass through his fingers it must receive His divine permission not all the folks who are gathered here this morning who are we've been who've been singing our musicians and our instrumentalists who are here in the room that yeah I was going to tell a story about a cowboy today and as some parts of it we're gonna be funny and I wanted to make sure they they laugh but but here's the story I heard about a cowboy who was applying for health insurance this week and the guy who was selling the insurance came to visit him and and they were going through a questionnaire and the cowboy was answering some very very basic questions and and one of the questions was this have you ever been in an accident that kept you out of work and the cowboy thought for a minute he said well no I've never been in an accident that kept me out of work there was a time once when I was bitten by a rattlesnake and that of course laid me up for a few days and I missed work and then there was another time when a horse kicked me right here and broke three of my ribs and I had to miss work for a few days because of that but no no I've never I've never been in an accident that kept me out of work well the insurance guy was quite puzzled by that and he said now now are you sure you know you've been bitten by a rattlesnake you've been kicked by horse broke your ribs but you've never been in an accident he said no sir the horse and the rattlesnake both did that on purpose on purpose look friend there are things that happen to you and things that happen to me that we may think are incidental or accidental but from the viewpoint that God has those things are providential providential see God's sovereignty over our lives is complete his rule and authority are absolute and so God has decreed that every everything that happens you know happens according to his purpose his purpose he has complete control of everything in your life or my life past present and future nothing happens outside of the boundaries of God's God's complete control God has no accidents he has perfect timing for everything he does now I'm sure you found yourself and in the middle of a season of your life that was difficult maybe tragic maybe even catastrophic times when you ask how in the world did I get here and and how did this happen and what in the world am I am I going to do but God knows that in His infinite wisdom that situation he has designed for your good and for his glory and it's no accident where you are God has a perfect plan in that situation and so look you need to look back I need to look back at everything about your life and realize it wasn't incidental or accidental maybe I thought it was but not in God's eyes it was providential the family that you were born into that well that was no accident fact your mom and Daddy may have told you that you were their little accident but you you weren't their little accident not in God's eyes the job that you have that was not an accident the place where you live you know the the country you live in right now the language you speak know that didn't happen by incident or by accident God had a purpose in that and a planning law and in that your strengths and your weaknesses not accidental all the things that you failed all the mistakes that you've made all the poor choices that you've made along the way all of the painful experiences that you may have had to endure none of those were accidents in the eyes of the Lord and you know the story of Joseph and you know how his brothers mistreated him and and abused him and and you know about him being in prison and and you know that whole story I don't have to recount that for you but but you know in the end when Joseph had been the exalted to the second-highest position in the land in Egypt you know in the end Joseph revealed himself once again to his brothers and he said this to them Genesis chapter 50 it's recorded for us in verses 19 through 20 and Joseph said to them you planned Eve against me God planned it for good to bring about this present result the survival of many people therefore don't be afraid seeing some people people's eyes that may have been incidental or accidental but in the eyes of God and in the eyes of Joseph that thing was was providential providential look I've heard people say man we just need to do a do-over for 20/20 I mean we need to reset we need to reboot somehow now none of us saw this coming did we but God saw it coming and it didn't catch him by surprise he knew what was on the horizon well before it ever happened and you know the economy's in the tank and people have lost jobs in quarantine and isolation and all this but what we need to realize is that our steps have been ordered by our Lord who doesn't see anything is accidental or incidental but all things as as that's providential in fact that makes a difference in how we see what's going on around us at every aspect of our lives is under God's control and we can be confident and peaceful we can have peace in the midst of panic even when it seems like everything is is out of control I've told you before about George Mueller and about that situation with his orphanages in England many of you know the story and about the life of George Mueller who took care of 10,000 boys and girls and orphanages all around England and he never made an appeal for money he never he never wrote his supporters all they ever did was pray many times God would make provision for the orphanage at the very time they were praying and George Mueller was a man of deep prayer and spiritual conviction he was a man of the word after he died somebody picked up his Bible which was well-worn and had notes jotted down all through it and next to the words of this Psalm Psalm 37 verse 23 he had added two words to this text in the margin of his Bible the state and here's what he wrote and stops are ordered by the Lord our steps and our stops are ordered by the Lord in turn that helps us in these days of quarantine and and difficulty and isolation to know that the Lord has ordered our steps and he's also ordered our stops one of his divine determinations number one our steps number two our struggles our struggles look look back again there at verse 24 of Psalm 37 you know this this particular word there though he falls though he falls now some translations you may have have one that's that reads like this it may say when he falls when he falls or though he falls there are a couple of translations that have mistakingly translated that verse if he falls that's not how it reads it's it's not an if it's a win one state's probability and the other states certainty it's not if it's when you see here's here's what the psalmist understood he understood that that there are times when all of us fall or stumble that's that's the word in some place but we all fall no one is exempt there are times when every one of us is going to struggle and stumble and fall Pastor Dave talked about the tongue last week from from James and that great passage in James chapter 3 James said this in verse 2 he said we all stumble in many ways and if anyone does not stumble in what he says he's a perfect man and able to bridle his whole body and that had a great truth that James put in there included himself and said we all stumble in many ways we don't always like to admit that about ourselves but it's true we all stumble now James was specifically talking about sin issues in a person's life and he was talking about how how we mismanaged our words in our tongue and he said you know if a person can control their tongue that they can control every other part of their lives but truth is we can't and so we stumble in what we say and what we think and what we do we all stumble in many ways now the psalmist knew this he knew this and there are times when when we fall alright when we stumble when when we're tripped up it may be by a calamity it may be by a catastrophe it may be difficulty of some type or it may be sin in our lives you know maybe through the loss of a job it may be through a health issue it may be through the breakup of a marriage it may be through a personal crisis or it may just be some foolish and sinful choices that we've made on our own and through that we stumble we fall and sometimes we can stumble or fall a circumstance can make a stumble or fall and then we fall even more we fall into anger our substance abuse our into lust our adultery are into foolish decisions that and the Bible actually shows us repeatedly how this can happen even to good people Eva even even the godly people and so we see we see good people in the Bible we we see them at their best in worship and at their worst in worry we see them at their best with faith and at their worst with doubt we we see some at their best with their generosity and then at their worst with greed we see strong people make bad decisions we see Saints in the scripture again and again acting like sinners we suisse we see Abraham who embraced the will of God for his life and followed God's God's will to the to the promised land but on the way he lied about Sarah his wife not once but twice we see Moses being called to be the leader of the children of Israel being the greatest leader of his day but in the midst of that he he killed an Egyptian and he tried to cover up the evidence and we see David who wrote this Psalm you know the the most famous Psalm ever Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd I shall have need of nothing but after he wrote that Psalm what did he did he committed Daltry with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered to try to cover up the sin and then there's Peter we talked about Peter recently who was a stalwart for Jesus and yet in those early days he had he had great courage and he was boastful about who he was and yet he cursed and denied the Lord before it was all over you see those things are written in the scripture both to instruct us and and encourage us to teach us that that even the best of God's people can do foolish things godly people can make wrong choices and suffer as a result but what we have to understand in God's eyes those things happen within the boundaries of God's providence Charles Spurgeon once said this grace does not keep us from going down but it does keep us from staying down and that good grace doesn't keep us from going down but it does keep us from from staying down so there are some divine determinations of the Lord in the lives of his children and he has determined our steps he has determined our our struggles now the next two are really going to put these two in perspective I think not just our steps and our struggles but he also determines our our security our security look back there again at verse 24 though he falls or when he falls he will not be overwhelmed because the Lord holds his hand in that great and he says in verse 25 I've been young and and now I'm old and I I've never seen the righteous forsaken are abandoned or his children begging bread though he falls he's not going to be destroyed he's not going to be utterly overwhelmed you know here's here's the picture there suppose you were to go up on the top of this building this morning and jump off well you're not here you wouldn't do that what suppose I were to do that alright it's pretty high pretty high up there to the point you know if I were to go up to the top and jump off for a while befalling and then I'd reached the place where there'd be a big splat okay or that's the difference though he falls he will not be destroyed though he falls he will not be utterly over well you jump off the top of the building or you jump off a peak in the Grand Canyon for a while you're only going to be falling but there's gonna be a point where you're gonna be totally destroyed all right and so God's saying look here's the truth about my children about my people though they fall they're never going to be overwhelmed never going to be utterly destroyed never going to reach that point God promises that's that's not going to happen to his children even though you may face something that's desperate that's life-changing you're not going to be utterly destroyed there's nothing that's ever going to sever your relationship with him here's how the psalmist said it in Psalm 94 verse 18 look at it here if I say my foot is slipping your faithful love will support me Lord when I am filled with cares your comfort brings me joy if I say my foot is slipping your faithful love will support me though he falls he won't be overwhelmed here because the Lord holds his hand look you may fall down but God's God doesn't intend for you to stay down he will raise you up he will pick you up if you are walking with him he'll not ever allow anything to destroy your relationship with him now we talked about Joseph a moment ago and and Joseph was with falsely accused and thrown into prison because of this rape charge and he was sold into slavery by his brothers but eventually God promoted him God exalted him he became he became the second highest ruler in the land God was at work in all of that now take Jonah on the other hand a lot like Joseph in a way he was he was he was called by God God had a purpose for Jonah's life but what did Jonah do Jonah ran away he purposefully and willfully disobeyed God what God did God big fish who swallowed him up and he let him live in the belly of that fish for a while and then what happened that fish vomited him out on the shore Joseph the trials of his life came about as not a result of his own bad choices and God promoted him Jonah on the other hand the trials of his life became came about as a result of his bad choices but what God took care of him and so Joseph on the one hand was promoted Jonah on the other hand was puked out on the beach I don't know which one you'd rather have happen in your life but I can tell you which one I'd rather have happen in my life but the point is in both cases God took care of them in both cases God's purpose and plan for their lives was fulfilled you remember at the end of Jesus time on earth you know Peter was all puffed up and and he said to Jesus I'll never deny you and Jesus said Peter before this day is over you're going to deny me three times but Peter I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail see Jesus was saying Peter there's someone who's higher in authority over you who has control of your life who has control of your steps and your stumbles and who's working this together according to his own will and his his own purpose now here's the reason why he says you got I orchestrated straight your struggles and and even though you fall you're not going to be utterly destroyed here's why because I'm holding you with my hand I'm upholding you by my hand I know you parents couldn't remember when you have had younger children and maybe you'd start across the street or maybe you'd start to walk through a crowded parking lot into the grocery store and and you might reach down to your child and say hey reach up here and hold my hand take my hand or you might say let me reach down take your hand you're the thing that kept them safe and secure in that moment crossing the street are walking through a crowd parking lot was not so much that they were holding your hand but it had everything to do with your holding their hand and that's the way it is in our relationship with with the Lord see our security and by the way this applies tremendously to our eternal security the fact that we never will lose our salvation that that doesn't have anything with to do with the fact that I'm holding on to him it has everything to do with the fact that he's holding on to me that's what the passage says here he's holding us he's upholding us by the power of his right hand remember Jesus said you're in the father's hand and nobody can ever take you out of the father's hand oh it's not about the fact that you're holding on to him in these days but friend it is about the fact that he is holding on to you he has divinely determined our steps our struggles our security here's number 4 he's divinely determined our our satisfaction our satisfaction look back there at verse 23 again a man steps are established by the Lord and he takes pleasure in his way now noticed which of those pronouns is capitalized and which is not he refers to God and that's why that words capitalized his refers to you the child of God he takes pleasure in his way I don't know if you thought about that a whole lot in these days that God delights in who you are God delights and where you are God takes great joy in great pleasure in your life as his child now I know that's easy for us to comprehend when things are going good isn't it that's easy for us to realize when when we're making good choices and everything's going great and everything's right in our world sure God takes great delight in me and in my life when everything's going good but it's hard for me to conceptualize that when things are going bad maybe when I've made some bad choices maybe when I've done some wrong things it's hard for me to keep that in my head and in my heart and in my life that my Lord delights in me yeah you can identify with that I think the Lord delights in his way now I heard this Illustrated many years ago like this and not very long ago before the virus came I saw this played out out here in our church for year it was a Wednesday night and and awana was going on you know and all the kids were doing their thing here for awana but one of our young dads was out in the foyer with with his baby girl who I guess you'd call a toddler she was just beginning to learn how to walk and so they were out there in the foyer together and and this little girl was trying to walk and he was trying to help her and so he'd get her up on her feet and and get in front of her and she'd try to take a few steps and she'd fall down and he'd get her up and she'd tried to take a few steps and she'd fall down and and there was a timer to when she fall down she got a little fuss since she cried a little bit she didn't she didn't like to fall and and and the dad at one point even kind of chuckled when she fell down he's kind of laughed ah now what was that a sarcastic laugh no was that a sadistic laugh no was he taking joy in the fact that that she'd fallen down and and she hurt herself no here's what he did he knew that if that little girl was ever gonna learn to walk she had to fall a few times and you know that parent the parents about your kids and so so what's happening in that moment you're taking joy in that journey you're taking delight and joy in that child your child because you know if you if you were to keep them from falling they'd never learn how to walk and so their Falls and their stumbles are very valuable and in the grand scheme of things God knows that about your life in my life nothing that's happening in your life or my life where whether it seems accidental or incidental it's it's not it's all providential Eve even if it's something I I mess up on my own God has a higher purpose and a higher plan and he's using that for for our good and and ultimately for his glory just like you as a parent you you rejoiced to see your children growing and learning and and and struggling and sometimes even stumbling it's not that that you take pleasure in in their sin or that God takes pleasure in our sin not at all the truth of the matter is there's nothing good or bad that can separate us his children from the love of Jesus nothing God's love is constant and it is continual and God always delights takes joy in the lives of his children and and our joy ought to be founded in the truth that God rejoices over us David in Psalm 149 you know those last Psalms are our praise Psalms and Psalm 149 the last the next to the last Psalm in the Bible it begins like this look at it here praise the Lord sing to the Lord a new song his praise in the Assembly of the Saints now notice as we read through this how many times he uses a word a synonym for for worship or praise alright praise the Lord sing to the Lord let Israel rejoice in their maker let the people of Zion be glad in their king let him praise His name with dancing well Jonathan mentioned that this morning so so this Psalm could have been meant for Baptists couldn't yeah but maybe some of your kids danced a little bit this morning maybe that'd be a good picture for you to post this week let them praise His name with dancing God says do this and make music to him with the tambourine and the harp why here's why for the Lord takes delight in his people he crowns the humble with salvation let the Saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds friend when was the last time that that honor brought you great joy when was the last time in your heart you you purpose young I'm gonna sing and worship and pray and praise and maybe even dance with but I'm gonna be glad in this honor that the Lord loves me that the Lord delights in me he takes joy in his people and that he's crowns you with his salvation from God God has ordered he has ordained he has determined that that would be true in the lives of his people that we would understand that through through all the circumstances and situations in our life good and bad in our successes and our failures in it in our good choices and even in our bad choices that our Lord our Father delights in us and will never let us be utterly destroyed you know I've mentioned through this series you know they've been several things out of the life of Corrie ten Boom that just keep coming to my mind and some of you've actually in the last few weeks have ordered a copy of her book the hiding place by the way the title that book comes out of psalm 119 verse 14 where the psalmist said you Lord are my hiding place and I hope in your word the court didn't boom and her sister Betsy you know the story they spent spent those months and in the concentration camp after they had been caught hiding Jews in their home and trying to save them from the Holocaust there's so many words of wisdom and truth that came out of her experience through the through living through the concentration camps that are so applicable for us in these days of this pandemic and in this virus here's one thing that Corrie ten Boom rode in that book the hiding place and by the way here's where the sermon title comes from look at it here there is never panic in heaven for God has no accidents only appointments never panic in heaven only peace why because God has no accidents he has no accidents only appointments he has he has no problems only plans and that's that's true for these days in in your life individually for your family for our church for our nation for all the nations of the world to see that God has a higher purpose in all of this there are things that God wants to accomplish in your life in my life that perhaps he's able to accomplish no other way and so in his sovereignty in his design and his purpose he may allow you or allow me or even place us purposefully in a situation that seems to us to be unbearable so that we'll turn to him so that will cry out to him so that we'll know that there's nothing greater for us than being held in the wonderful hands of a loving Lord here's what may be true for some of you today there may be those of you out here who who are watching this live or who will watch it later on it and it very well could be true that that you're one step away from absolute disaster one step away from just totally ruining your life because you're not a believer you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus and it may be that you're just one step away from becoming genuinely a child of God one step away from becoming a genuine follower of Jesus and maybe that's been God's plan for you all along during these coronavirus days is that you would come to know Jesus as your Lord and Master you would come to know what God has done for you in providing for you a savior from sin and death and hell and Fred it would be our great joy if today would be the day wherever you are that you would bow your head say a simple prayer ask Jesus to forgive your sin and come in and be the lord and master of your life and if that happens we would love for to hear about it for you to call us or email us or or let us know that you've trusted Christ today but there are those of you out there who are watching who are going to be seeing this message and you know that you're saved that your sins are forgiven Christ on the throne of your heart you need to know today in a fresh fresh new way that god delights in you he takes a great joy over everything about your life and nothing nothing that's happened has happened by accident everything that God has put or allowed into your life has been bounded by his sovereign rule and authority his sovereign choice of you to be his child all of your steps all of your struggles have been ordered by him he wants you to know in these days you don't have to panic you can have peace you can trust him even though you may fall even though you may get sick you know something may happen to you that that that takes you to heaven you will not be overcome or overwhelmed or destroyed you'll be safely and securely in his hands from now until he takes you home to be with him in heaven I want you to pray with me and then I hope you'll sing together with us we're gonna sing today as we bring this service to a close about the wonderful greatness of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Lord we love you and we thank you for the gift of your word today and all it means in our lives thank you for encouraging us from your word thank you for giving us this great assurance and great peace knowing that no matter what happens we're safe in your hands in Jesus name [Music] so see [Music] [Music] [Music] since my soon my savior great it seems my soon [Music] so great [Music] that God is enough to die I scarce can take [Music] my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take [Music] my son nice [Music] I can take me home what joy should feel [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen we pray you in blessed and encouraged thank you for being a part of grace life we're praying for you not [Music] thank you so much for tuning in with us today we pray this has been a wonderful worship experience for you and that the rest of this week you'll have a great time walking with Jesus as your Lord and Master if there's anything we can do to help you please reach out to us and we'll be looking forward to seeing you again soon

Channel: GraceLife Television

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Id: SRB5zr3W8wI

Length: 83min 32sec (5012 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2020